


The Earth is littered with the ruins of empires that believed they were eternal.

by alexanderendrone



Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-14
Updated: 2019-07-14
Packaged: 2020-06-28 05:57:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19806130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alexanderendrone/pseuds/alexanderendrone





	The Earth is littered with the ruins of empires that believed they were eternal.

Atlas studied the hospital bed in front of him, at Psi laid across it, cloudy eyes staring back at him.

"Atlas... Dad?" He stuttered out, hand jerking from where it rested at his stomach, a desperate attempt to reach towards him. He whimpered in pain as it jostled his wounds.

Atlas moved forward quickly, hands brushing through Psi's hair.

"We're going to move." He blurted out, something painful twisting in his chest. "We can find a nice big place, far away from everything, and you'll have a whole room all to yourself. A room for all of your inventions, and you'll never have to worry about where money comes from, and they'll be food on the table every night and we'll be a _family_." 

Oh. Atlas was crying. The tears steadily made their way down his face. 

A smile struggled its way on to Psi's face.

"Must be bad, huh? If you're talking about settling down." He bit back a grimace at the pain, and Atlas's hand moved down to cup his face.

Psi blinked. The tears were still streaming down Atlas's face but he didn't even seem to notice, a fiercely determined look on his face. 

Psi only wished Ari could be here, so he could hold their hand and tell them everything would be ok, so he could fill that big brother role they so desperately needed. So they could be a family.

"The doctors don't think... They say it's very..." A new voice murmured.

"Just spit it out." Atlas snapped.

"They don't think he's going to make it." Jacobi's hands fluttered at his sides and he looked... Useless. Psi wanted to speak, to say anything, to make things better, because it would be ok, it had to be.

"Did you know?" Atlas whispered, staring down at the bloodied bandage holding Psi's chest together. " _Did you know?_ "

"They... Mentioned him coming along with us, yes. We thought it'd be a simple mission, search and rescue, and you know Psi has always wanted to help." Jacobi's voice was steady but his face betrayed the pain he was in, the bandages keeping him in one piece tainted red.

Atlas's hand brushed across the new burn marks across Psi's face. He forced a smile.

"We match." Psi whispered, face trembling under the strain of keeping the smile on his face. He gestured vaguely at the faded burn scars decorating Atlas's cheekbone. Atlas had regarded it as a mark of his past failures, but Psi had always thought it made him look cool.

"I... Tried. Real hard. I wanted to help. I wanted to be a hero, to save people." 

"You did, you helped, you saved so many people-" Jacobi was quick to interrupt, hands jerking at his sides, fisting in his pants. 

"I wasn't thinking. I saw the wall falling, and the little girl, I just. Moved. I'm sorry, I didn't... Think. I know that thinking's the only thing I'm good at, but I _didn't_. I just... Had to save her." After Psi finished he looked back up at Atlas. Strong, sturdy, immovable Atlas who just stared back, expression soft.

"You did good, Psi. I'm so proud of you, *my son*. I love you." He whispered in the space between them, and everything was good. 

Psi let his eyes flutter shut. Atlas would be ok. He had to be.

\--

Atlas stared at the unmoving body before him, chest unnaturally still. He looked so small, so young.

He registered everything vaguely, all of it outside of himself.

The loud beeping. The flatline on the heart monitor. The doctors rushing in. The frantic movements. A hand on his shoulder, informing him in too soft and kind of a tone he didn't deserve, that Psi wasn't going to come back.

He felt the horrible wrenching in his chest. The doctors left. Jacobi remained.

Atlas collapsed on to the floor, hands traveling to his boot.

"Atlas... _Fuck_. Atlas I'm so _fucking sorry_." Jacobi moved closer, hands held wide, leaving himself completely open. _Idiot_.

The clasp let go, and he lunged, knife in hand, aimed to _kill_.

" _You took everything from me_." He snarled.

An arm locked around his chest, yanking him away from Jacobi and back into himself. He hadn't even heard the door open.

Sobs muffled into his back as hands clutched his middle in a death grip. Ari. He let the knife fall.

" _Dad_." Ari sobbed, gasping breaths against his back. He barely managed to twist around to gather Ari into his arms.

Ari openly sobbed into his neck. They always felt so much and so powerfully. He wished he could help them. They were so small, so child like. Instead, he sat quietly, trying to force his thoughts together.

It would be ok. It _had_ to be.


End file.
